Employee Engagement Survey
Organisations strive to achieve best performance, yet many do not achieve this.
Using research and practical application, we have found that the key reason for some organisations and teams achieving greater success over others is down to the ‘Work Climate’ that it operates within; it is a key differentiator to performance, accepting that other external factors can of course have an influence.
‘Work Climate’ is simply described as “what does it feel like to work here?” and directly impacts people’s drive and enthusiasm to do a good job and thus perform. In this sense the ‘Work Climate’ has a direct correlation to the overall performance of the organisation/team.
This is set in the context of an overall framework of performance that has ‘Work Climate’ at its heart, where all the aspects of this framework have a contribution to the ‘Work Climate’ and therefore performance outcomes.
Impact of Work Climate
A number of factors can impact ‘Work Climate’, these include:
- Management processes – how planning, team communications and performance management or appraisals work
- Structure and role – how clear the structure is (often shown by an organagram) and the clarity of people’s job descriptions and objectives
- Behaviours – of people within and across the team (in terms of how people operate with each other), but also that of the leader and how they influence how people feel (more about these below)
Ultimately, effective leadership is about the creation of a high performing ‘climate’ that leads to excellence in performance.
Dimensions of Work Climate
The ‘Work Climate’ has six dimensions to it – each of which is key to underpinning excellence in performance. The graphs that play back the scores are an amalgam of those who contributed to them.
In each case:
The six dimensions and their meaning are as follows:
- Clarity direction and vision for the business is clearly communicated and understood
- Challenge people find their work sufficiently challenging
- Change the business is able to deal successfully with change
- Autonomy people feel they are able to get on with their job
- Recognition people feel they are recognised sufficiently for a job well done
- Involvement people feel they have a say in the business
The scores for each dimension identify the extent to which the organization demonstrates the above description in the perception of the employees of the organization.
Dimensions of Leadership & Climate
Dimensions of ‘Work Climate’ – Leadership & ‘Climate’
There are many facets to leadership and what is seen as a good role model. Often this is confused with personality.
Nevertheless, how a leader operates does have an influence on the ‘climate ‘– and indeed the structure and management processes, so it is key to understand the view of leadership.
This model looks at seven core facets (dimensions) that are key to creating an excellent climate and thus contribute to good performance.
The seven dimensions of leadership & Climate are:
- Direction
- Relationship Management
- Engaging
- Team Development
- Results Focus
- Delegation
- Issue Resolution
Benefits of the Climate Survey
The key benefit for all this data is it provides a starting point for dialogue. Through such dialogue, a good understanding of those areas that are contributing well to performance can be identified. Equally, those areas where improvements would make a significant difference to performance can be identified and a ‘road-map’ for change can be developed.
Involving the team in the analysis of the data, the development of actions to address and then the ownership of activity to fulfill those actions, in itself has the potential for huge benefit for the ‘climate’ and thus the ‘performance’ of the team to make a quantum leap forwards.